Praise for lost pet postings

Reunited thanks to social media

TOGETHER AGAIN: Deborah Skilling was reunited with french bullmastiff Toe-rag through the SPCA Southland Facebook page.

Relevant offers

In less than 60 minutes a much loved dog and its owner were reunited thanks to social media.

The SPCA Southland Facebook page, which started in 2010, has reunited hundreds of pets with their owners. The page worked quickly for owner and animal lover Deborah Skilling to find 6-year-old Toe-rag.

Her french bullmastiff escaped from her Clifton home a couple of weeks ago.

Skilling did not realise she was missing until she came across a post on the Southland SPCA Facebook page describing a french bullmastiff that had been found.

Skilling's heart sank as she frantically checked Toe-rag's kennel to find she was gone. She had been missing for about an hour.

Skilling quickly sent the woman a Facebook message and when she arrived at the Clifton Club Inn, Toe-rag quickly bounded towards her.

Skilling said she might not have found Toe-rag if it had not been for the SPCA page, unless she had been found by Animal Control staff.

SPCA Southland animal welfare inspector Jenny Macdonald said before Facebook, the SPCA used a system which included lost, found and wanted books.

When an animal came in staff could look through the books to see if any missing animal matched the description.